Oriental and African Studies . Endogenous Growth Theory : A Critical Assessment

The purpose of this paper is to set endogenous or new growth theory against broader developments within economics as a discipline. As a topic, irrespective of its intellectual antecedents, endogenous growth theory is extremely recent, only dating back in acknowledged published form to Romer's (1986) article which is usually coupled with Lucas' (1988) contribution. Within a decade, the literature has itself taken off into sustained growth. Over the past three years, the number of articles explicitly drawing upon endogenous growth theory almost certainly borders on a thousand. Equally significant, they are spread over fifty or more economics journals. There are textbooks for endogenous growth theory, such as Grossman and Helpman (1991) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995). Surveys and special issues and sections in journals proliferate. In this light, endogenous growth theory would appear to be an excellent point from which to assess the state and momentum of economics as a discipline.